What does madder look like? Are there any pictures?

Radix Rudix

Rubiaceae

(English) India Madder Root

Also known as four-wheel grass, lala vine, and small blood circulation , mountain vine, red root grass, red vine grass, mountain dragon, golden grass, madder, dyed scarlet grass, rhubarb, grass sou, ground blood, blood Jianchou, windmill grass, cow vine

The source is the roots and rhizomes of the Rubia cordifolia L. plant.

Plant form Perennial climbing herb. The stems are quadrangular, and some have barbs along the edges. The leaves are in whorls of 4, of which one pair is larger and has a long stalk, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 2.5~6cm or longer, 1~3cm or wider; the leaf margin and dorsal veins are slightly inverted. prick. Cymes terminal or axillary; flowers small, calyx teeth not obvious, corolla green or white, 5-lobed, ciliate. The fruit is fleshy, small, purple-black when ripe. The flowering and fruiting period is from September to October.

Grown on hillsides beside rocks or in grass beside ditches. Mainly produced in Anhui, Hebei, Shaanxi, Henan and Shandong.

Collecting and processing: Excavate in spring and autumn, remove sediment and dry in the sun.

Characteristics: The rhizome is irregularly nodular, with a stem base on the upper side and clusters of roots of varying thickness on the lower side. The root is cylindrical, wavy and 10~25cm long, 0.2~1cm in diameter, with a reddish brown or dark brown surface, fine longitudinal lines and a few fine root marks. Crisp in texture, flat in cross-section, purple-red in skin and light yellow-red in wood. Qiwei. Slightly bitter taste.

Chemical components: The root contains a variety of hydroxyanthraquinone derivatives, such as alizarin, purpuro-xanthin, purpurin, pseudohydroxyanthraquinone, Rubiadic acid (munjistin), rubia glycoside (rubia, ruberythric acid), emodin methyl ether, etc. have also been isolated to obtain the whitening active ingredients rubianaphthoic acid glycosides I and II, the aglycone of which is rubianaphthoic acid.

Nature and flavor: cold in nature and bitter in taste.

English name RADIX RUBIAE

Source: This product is the dried root and rhizome of the Rubiaceae plant Rubia cordifolia L. Excavate in spring and autumn, remove sediment and dry.

Preparation method

Rudder: Remove impurities, wash, moisten, cut into thick slices or segments, and dry.

Madder charcoal: Take madder slices or segments and fry them according to the charcoal method (Appendix II D) until the surface is burnt black.

Characteristics: The rhizome of this product is nodular, with clusters of roots of varying thicknesses. The root is cylindrical, slightly curved, 10-25cm long, 0.2-1cm in diameter; the surface is reddish brown or dark brown, with fine longitudinal wrinkles and a few fine root marks; the skin peeling off is yellowish red. It is brittle and easy to break. The cross section is flat and the skin is narrow and purplish red. The wood is broad and light yellowish red and has many duct holes. Odorless, slightly bitter taste, irritating tongue when chewed for a long time.

Identification

(1) Root cross section of this product: 6 to 12 rows of cork cells, containing brown matter. Some cortical parenchyma cells contain reddish-brown granules. Phloem cells are smaller. The cambium layer is not very obvious. The xylem accounts for the main part of the root, which is all lignified and the rays are not obvious. Parenchyma cells contain calcium oxalate needle crystal bundles.

(2) Take 0.2g of this product powder, add 5ml of ether, shake for a few minutes, and filter. Add 1 ml of sodium hydroxide test solution to the filtrate, shake, and let stand for layering. The water layer will appear red; the ether layer will be colorless. Observe under a UV lamp (365nm) and it will show sky blue fluorescence.

(3) Take 0.5g of this product powder, place it in a conical flask, add 10ml of methanol, ultrasonicate for 30 minutes, filter, and concentrate the filtrate to about 1ml as the test solution. Take another 0.5g of madder control medicinal material and prepare the reference medicinal material solution in the same way. Then take the Rubiacin reference substance and add methanol to make a solution containing 2.5mg per 1ml as the reference solution.

According to the thin layer chromatography (Appendix VI B) test, draw 5 μl of each of the above three solutions, and place them on the same silica gel G thin layer plate with sodium carboxymethyl cellulose as the binder, and use petroleum ether (60 ~ 90 ℃ )-Acetone (4:1) is used as the developing agent, unfold, take out, dry, and inspect under ultraviolet light (365nm). In the chromatogram of the test product, fluorescent spots of the same color appear at positions corresponding to the chromatograms of the reference medicinal materials and reference substances.

Content determination

Determination according to high performance liquid chromatography (Appendix VI D).

Chromatographic conditions and system suitability test: Use octadecylsilane bonded silica gel as the filler; methanol-water-tetrahydrofuran (310:90:3) as the mobile phase; the detection wavelength is 250nm. The number of theoretical plates should not be less than 4,000 based on the peak of Rubiacin.

Preparation of the reference substance solution: Precisely weigh an appropriate amount of Rubiacin reference substance, add methanol to make a solution containing 80 μg per 1 ml, and get it.

Preparation of the test solution: Take about 0.2g of the powder of this product, weigh it accurately, place it in a stoppered conical flask, add 25ml of methanol accurately, weigh it, soak it overnight, and sonicate for 30 minutes. Let cool, weigh again, make up for the lost weight with methanol, shake well, filter, and take the remaining filtrate to get it.

Measurement method: Precisely draw 5 μl each of the reference solution and the test solution, inject them into the liquid chromatograph, and measure.

This product contains no less than 0.40% Rubiacin (C17H15O4) on a dry basis.

The nature and flavor are bitter and cold. Returns to liver meridian.

Functions: Cool blood, stop bleeding, remove blood stasis, stimulate menstruation, relieve cough, and eliminate phlegm. It is used for vomiting blood, epistaxis, metrorrhagia, traumatic bleeding, amenorrhea and blood stasis, joint pain, swelling and pain from falling. Modern medical clinical research: It can treat bleeding disorders, chronic tracheitis, chronic diarrhea, rheumatoid arthritis, soft tissue injuries, and leukopenia.

Usage and dosage: 6~9g.

Dye effect: Madder is a natural plant dye that has been available since ancient times. Parts where dyes are used: Roots (containing anthrones, alizarin, alizarin, etc.).

Relevant historical records: Madder is one of the earliest red dyes used by humans. It has been recorded in ancient documents. The "Book of Songs" has "Only clothes and weeds, chatting and entertaining" and "East Gate's husks" Phrases such as "weeds are growing in Osaka". "Han Guan Yi" records that "Xian Qian came out of the dyeing garden to dye the royal clothes." There is also a record in "Historical Records 6.4 Huo Zhi Zhuan" of "Qianmu Qian, her people and Qianhuhou, etc." It can be seen that planting madder at that time can enjoy huge profits, and the red dyeing of madder has received considerable attention before the Zhou Dynasty. "Compendium of Materia Medica" says: "Tao Yinju's Materia Medica said: There are few in the east, not as many as in the west, so the western grass is madder,..." Shi Zhen said: "The madder sprouts in December, and it can stretch several feet across the court, and it is very hollow. There are thorns on the outside, each section is several inches long, and each section has five leaves. The leaves are rough and astringent, with green faces and green backs. They bloom and bear fruit in July and August, as big as small peppers, with fine seeds in the middle... It can be dyed crimson..." There are also words in the Qing Dynasty's "Little Knowledge of Physics? Volume 6, Volume 6 of 4" that say "redder is dyed purple" and "reddish is dyed with black plum soup, reddish with lime water, and the reddish is faded without losing two baht." "." etc., the book "Plant Names and Facts Illustrated Research" also has many explanations about madder. There are also many records in early Taiwan chronicles. For example, the "Zhuluo County Chronicle" published in the fifty-sixth year of Kangxi's reign said: "The grass dyed with madder is called Maosou... It is often used by Tufan to dye animal hair and also for dyeing." Vine; however, it is kept secret, and few Han people know where they were born. "The appendix "Yingbo Bai" in "Revisited Shan County Chronicles, Volume 6, 4," says: "The women weave their own cloth. It is made of dog hair and ramie, dyed with madder, and is intricately written in Zhu Yin. It is called Da Ge pattern. Excerpts from this article, such as "Taiwan Hall Chronicles", "Chiayi County Chronicles", "Taiwan Prefecture Gemalan Hall Chronicles", "Taiwan General History", etc. are quite consistent with the previous articles. More than sixty years ago, Du Yansun gave a detailed explanation of the dyeing of madder in the book "Dyeing Methods of Domestic Plant Dyes" and also explained the pigment components: "The pigments in the roots of madder are alizarin, alizarin, and pseudodian." There are three types of purple pigments, alizarin being the main one. This substance is contained in the roots to form glycosides. If it is boiled with nitric acid, it will be fermented in the roots to form glycosides.

Alizarin exists in fresh madder roots, is slightly soluble in cold water, easily soluble in hot water, alcohol and ether, and turns blood red when soluble in salty liquids... ”

Madder can be roughly divided into two types: Eastern madder and Western madder. Eastern madder has different names depending on its origin, such as Indian madder, Chinese madder, and Japanese madder. In terms of the red dyeing effect, Both Western and Indian madder are far superior to Chinese madder. The red pigment produced in China, Taiwan and Japan is thinner and has a stronger orange flavor, which is not as bright as that of western madder and Indian madder. Freshly collected madder roots can be used, or dried madder roots purchased from traditional Chinese medicine stores can be used.